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Monday, April 12, 2010

Leviathan review

I was very excited to tackle the first book in Westerfeld's new planned series, a steampunk adventure set during an alternate history of World War I. The British, who style themselves as "Darwinists" have a formidable air force composed of genetically modified "beasties." Their German opposition, known as "Clankers" use over-sized metallic walkers and tanks. The story follows, in mostly alternating chapters, two young protagonists, Deryn a.k.a. Dylan Sharp, a midshipman in the British air navy and Aleksander Ferdinand, son of the murdered Austrian Arch-Duke and budding Clanker pilot.

Deryn, the new Darwinist recruit, is hiding a secret -- "he" is actually a "she." Her brother and recently-deceased father have given her an unconventional upbringing and encouraged her interest in flying, even though only men are allowed in the air service. I felt that Westerfeld really hit the right note with Deryn. It's such a common science-fiction and fantasy trope to have a young girl disguise herself as a boy in order to go off and have adventures... but it's pretty uncommon to see characters address this problem with the seriousness that it deserves. Deryn spends the first three-quarters of the novel terrified that she will be found out. Being caught is her number one concern, and it drives most of her decisions, including her impetous piloting and her foul mouth. (Westerfeld's gritty street vernacular includes terms like, "clart," "boffin" and "barking spiders.")

Alek is the son of the recently murdered Arch-Duke Ferdinand of Austria. He is on the run, aided by two of his loyal retainers, one step ahead of the war-mongering Germans, as he attempts to re-group and prove his legitimacy.

The thing that surprised me the most about Leviathan was my own reaction to the Darwinists. I found myself thoroughly skeeved out by the description of the living airships, with their attendant symbiotic life-forms creating a self-sustaining biosphere. A typical ship would be mostly whale, with perhaps a bit jellyfish and a number of other "life threads" mixed in. It would be accompanied by double-nosed hydrogen sniffing dogs, flocks of bats and birds, messenger lizards and more. Plenty of thought went in to how the living airships would be fed and how waste management would be handled. Oddly, the "Clanker" steam-driven technology, appealed to me much more. How awesome would it be to pilot one of those? From the description in the book, they sound just like the AT-AT walkers from Star Wars.

The last book I read which dealt with similar gender issues was Allison Goodman's Eon: Dragoneye Reborn. Leviathan would be my go-to recommendation to steampunk enthusiasts everywhere and fans of Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles or Jeanne DuPrau's Books of Ember series.